The Winter of Their Discontent?

Having stealthily invaded some of the premium Penn State message boards, this mouse sniffed around and found some very interesting information centered around dissent in the coaching ranks.

The Turkey himself would not post this because of the unsubstantiated nature of the information; however, this mouse, who is normally a political commentator, can smell a rat when there is one.

“The dissention amongst the staff is at an all-time high. When Joe is not there, it’s a contest to see who can act like they are in charge.” —Anonymous Poster

What I will post below was originally unearthed on Sunday, and since then has created much stir on the board, which I will not identify. Some of the responses, purportedly from people close to the program, including former players, have corroborated what you will read. Others have scoffed at parts of it. As people who post on the particular message board on which I found this do so anonymously, I have no way of knowing whether any are credible.

With all those disclaimers having been stated, I shall shall share the post with you. Anything that would serve to identify either the poster or his/her informant will be elided. Otherwise, it is verbatim from the source.

The last two home games we’ve been lucky enough to tailgate with a member of the coaching staffs family before the games. We asked one of the coaches wives what was going on with the program and the staff and the answers were disturbing to say the least. She said………

1. Joe is not at practice more than an hour a day. He also rarely if ever attends any of the coaching or game prep meetings. She said people don’t know how sick he was in the offseason implying that he went through a serious medical issue that has not been publicly reported. He has absolutely zero input into the gameplanning, and doesn’t even know what it is until Friday night.

2. The dissention amongst the staff is at an all-time high. When Joe is not there, it’s a contest to see who can act like they are in charge. There have been verbal arguments in front of the team in the middle of practice sessions between assistant coaches yelling at each other that they are in charge and are going to do what they want at that point of practice.

3. Multiple coaches on the staff have been reaching out to gauge interest from other programs as they are worried about their future in the program. One “high profile” coach on the staff actually reached out to the head coach of another PA school over the summer saying he was worried about his future at PSU and laying the groundwork for a possible move in the future.

4. There is a process in place amongst the staff to determine if a high school prospect should get an offer. Some of the coaches will vote against offering or recruiting certain kids just to spite the coaches who want them offered or are their primary recruiters. Whether this is actually going on or not I do not know, but at least one coach on the staff feels that way. For this reason, the coaches who actually do recruit have basically thrown their hands in the air and almost stopped recruiting all together.

5. “If Tom Bradley is the next head coach, the real coaches will leave in about 30 seconds.”

After hearing this stuff, I really feel bad for the kids on the team. This staff and Joe in paticular should be completely ashamed and embarrassed at their behavior. The sad part is I don’t think Joe even has a clue what’s going on because he’s never around.

I don’t know if we’re going to win a game the rest of the year. The team has quit, the coaches have quit and morale is at an all-time low.

This mouse believes that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Some of the above could be bunk, but based on what we casual observers have seen happening with our beloved football team this year, some of this is quite possibly accurate.

Of course, there’s the possibility that either the poster of this message or the coach’s wife had an agenda and wanted to spread some rumors. This mouse decided to take a chance on that not being the case. If this turns out to be completely unfounded, I will apologize to you all for the false alarm.

I have no malicious intent in re-posting this. I believe that our football program—and Joe Paterno—deserve better than to suffer through a period of entropy. It is my hope that any such dissent can be dealt with before it becomes a mutiny.

Many people feel that this is Joe Paterno’s last year. It would be a shame if he were to go out with this kind of turmoil as his legacy. However, if the program is falling apart, as it seems to be from the casual observer’s viewpoint, Joe should resign, the administration should hire a new head coach from outside the program, and that new coach should clean house. That is my opinion, not the message board poster’s.

In any case, I wanted to share this with you. Comments are welcome, as always.

His experience as a head coach is limited to high school. I believe that a program as large and as political as Penn State’s requires an experienced head coach who can handle executive management, field management, fund raising, recruiting, etc. Johnson is a great recruiter and an arguably good position coach, but he is untried at higher echelons. He’s a great guy, he’s been there 16 years, and I’d like to keep him. Perhaps he could be a good defensive coordinator, but I don’t think that will happen.

If Joe leaves, Hall and Anderson are likely to retire. If Jay gets the head coaching job, heaven help us. I think he needs to go. I have the same problem with Bradley as I have with Johnson—no executive experience. Plus, I have another. I’m so sick and tired of the soft cover three Sandusky zone that I could puke every time I see the D lining up that way. The defense is antiquated, just like the offense, and there’s no better indication of how it ruins defensive backs than Alan Zemaitis washing out in the NFL. Creativity is lacking on both sides of the ball. So, I believe that both JayPa and Bradley must go.

The new head coach, whoever he might be, must come from outside the program. Any head coach worth his fat paycheck will want to bring trusted staffers with him. Some position coaches might survive, but coordinators and top assistants will have to be replaced.

I suppose that the big question is whether Spanier has the balls to deal with the whole thing and to act against Joe’s wishes that he have some say in the selection of his successor. Joe should have no influence on the selection process. We have an antiquated, inbred coaching staff. For better or worse, Joe’s departure should precipitate wholesale changes. And you can’t hire someone and then cut his balls off by telling him who he must keep and who must go. Those are his decisions.

So, Bradley, McQueary, and Jay should definitely be brushing up on their networking.

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The Nittany Turkey is a retired techno-geek who thinks he knows something about Penn State football and everything else in the world. If there's a topic, we have an opinion on it, and you know what "they" say about opinions! Most of what is posted here involves a heavy dose of hip-shooting conjecture, but unlike some other blogs, we don't represent it as fact. Read More…